Steam Controller redesigned once again, leak suggests

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It’s been a long time since we’ve seen or heard about Valve’s Steam Controller, the mythical gamepad that will make it easy to control PC games from the living room couch. Back in January of this year, Valve ditched the controller’s touchscreen, and in March Valve revealed that new design. A few months later in July, Valve added a thumbstick to the controller. Since then, the Steam Machine world, and its future, has gone dark — even Alienware turned their Steam Machine into a Windows PC. Now, if a leak from a Steam beta build is to be believed, Valve has another redesign in store for its controller.

What originally made the Steam Controller unique was that, instead of traditional directional controls like a D-pad or thumbsticks, two circular trackpads would take their place. The new leak suggests that the left trackpad is now home to what appears to be a traditional D-pad. Yep, the Steam Controller has gone from trackpads and touchscreens to D-pads and thumbsticks.

If the leak turns out true, the Steam Controller design cycle tells a depressing tale: so far, Valve just can’t figure out how to revolutionize the way PC games can be controlled. After all, the Steam Controller went from a wacky, unique gamepad to one much more traditional. It’s possible that the new D-pad image could be more of a guide than a raised button, but even so, Valve felt the need to designate one of the most traditional buttons on a controller.

The inclusion of these traditional elements wouldn’t make the controller bad, but it might make the controller just another Xbox 360-like gamepad on the pile under your TV.